Is this the BUK missile launcher that shot down MH17 being smuggled back to Russia: Motorist captures military truck carrying BUK M1 in border town

  • Driver filmed military truck on main road for two kilometres in 'border area' of Russia at 8.45pm on Saturday
  • Ukrainian sources have seized the footage and branded it 'film of the BUK, the one that shot the Boeing'
  • Comes after a BUK launcher was pictured rumbling into pro-Russian rebel-held Torez just two hours before crash 
  • Ukraine’s security agency, the SBU, has released recordings of intercepted phone calls
  • Claim they prove Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a group of Russian-backed Cossack militants 
  • Neither recording - which allegedly includes a Russian military intelligence officer - could be independently verified
  • Laughing rebels filmed the plane as it crashed, gleefully bragging 'that was a blast – look at the smoke!'

By Will Stewart and Mia De Graaf

Published: 12:41 EST, 20 July 2014 | Updated: 01:36 EST, 21 July 2014

Is this the BUK missile system back home in Russia after shooting down flight MH17?

A driver followed this military truck on a main road for two kilometres in a 'border area' of Russia before uploading the footage, filmed with a dashboard camera, on the internet.

The cargo had no escort and Ukrainian sources have seized on it, captioning the footage: 'A Russian blogger filmed the BUK M1 in Russia, the one that shot the Boeing.'

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Offending launcher? A driver filmed this BUK launcher on the back of a military track rumbling back across the Russian border on Saturday

Offending launcher? A driver filmed this BUK launcher on the back of a military track rumbling back across the Russian border on Saturday

Claims: Ukrainian officials have seized the footage and labelled it a 'film of the BUK M1 in Russia, the one that shot the Boeing'

Claims: Ukrainian officials have seized the footage and labelled it a 'film of the BUK M1 in Russia, the one that shot the Boeing'

'For two kilometres, a blogger from Russia has been driving behind covered BUK 1M which, according to his words, had been driving from the Ukrainian border. His opinion it that is exactly that BUK that made the shot,' said one version spreading on the web.

The driver is heard saying: 'No kidding.'

 

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While the footage is visibly in Russia rather than Ukraine, the exact location is not given.

A second truck is also evident in some frames.

It was filmed at around 8.45pm on Saturday.

Reports from Ukraine suggested the BUK had been smuggled in the dead of night into Russia soon after the plane was blasted out of the sky on Thursday last week.

It came after images were released of a launcher rumbling through Torez, held by pro-Russian separatists, just two hours before the Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down.

In a tense phone call with Vladimir Putin, David Cameron said Russia would have to 'present compelling and credible evidence' that the Kremlin-backed separatists were not to blame for 298 people - including 10 Britons - being killed despite the images and footage.

Key: The footage, three days after flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine, could be a key piece of evidence as leaders try to determine the source

Key: The footage, three days after flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine, could be a key piece of evidence as leaders try to determine the source

Covert: The equipment was covered up as it made the two-hour journey across the border of Russia and Ukraine shortly after 8.45pm on Saturday

Covert: The equipment was covered up as it made the two-hour journey across the border of Russia and Ukraine shortly after 8.45pm on Saturday

The exact location is not given but officials claim to have tracked it based on road signs that feature in the footage which has been uploaded to YouTube

The exact location is not given but officials claim to have tracked it based on road signs that feature in the footage which has been uploaded to YouTube

He told Mr Putin that blocking international investigators and rescue teams from accessing the site was 'indefensible', a Downing Street spokesman said. 

Mr Cameron is furious that Mr Putin has kept him waiting despite the British death toll. A Downing Street source said Mr Cameron was expressing his anger that 'ten of my citizens have just been killed with a plane that was brought down by a missile that was shot by Russian separatists'. 

A Downing Street source admitted there was 'a sense of frustration that we have not be able to speak to him sooner'. Following the call, Mr Cameron wrote on Twitter: 'I've just spoken to President Putin. I made clear he must ensure access to the crash site so the victims can have proper funerals.'

Pro-Russian rebels today said they have recovered the black boxes from MH17 and taken them to Donetsk where they will be handed over to international investigators. 

Rebel leader Aleksander Borodai told a press conference in Donetsk: 'Some items, presumably the black boxes, were found, and they have been delivered to Donetsk and they are under our control. There are no specialists among us who could pinpoint the look of the black boxes, but we brought to Donetsk some technical items which could be the black boxes of the airliner.' Suspicious: Ukrainian spies reportedly filmed the launcher used in the attack being smuggled to Russia - with two missiles missing

Suspicious: Ukrainian spies reportedly filmed the launcher used in the attack being smuggled to Russia - with two missiles missing

A view of what is believed to be a BUK surface-to-air missile battery being driven along a path on July 17 in Torez, Ukraine

A view of what is believed to be a BUK surface-to-air missile battery being driven along a path on July 17 in Torez, Ukraine

Launch site? The BUK missile system photographed in Torez hours before MH17 was downed

Launch site? The BUK missile system photographed in Torez hours before MH17 was downed

Russian air defense missile system Buk M2 seen at a military show at the international forum "Technologies in machine building 2010" in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, Wednesday, June 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

Russian air defense missile system BUK  M2 seen at a military show at the international forum in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, in 2010


However, Ukrainian security officials claimed today that Russia has reinforced rebels with three multiple rocket launchers and four heavy tanks, while massing troops on the border.

Pro-Kiev authorities released details of what they claimed to be a recording of a phone calls from Friday afternoon between a senior rebel commander and a number of his men at the crash site discussing MH17's black boxes.

Oleksandr Serhiyovych, commander of the Vostok battalion calls one of his men and asks whether the black boxes have yet been recovered because 'Moscow asks where they are'. 

Serhiyovych warns that the black boxes must be brought under rebel control and kept away from international inspectors who were arriving at the scene. 

In a second call to another rebel, Serhiyovych said: 'I have a request for you. It is not my request Our friends from high above are very much interested in the fate of the black boxes. I mean people from Moscow.'

A pro-Russian rebel who calls himself 'Novorossiya', or New Russia, had earlier Tweeted that the black boxes belonging to the downed Malaysian airliner had been brought to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. 

An international team of air crash investigators has still not been able to access the scene because of the area's instability. 

Mr Borodai said he planned handing the black boxes over to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

He also said the bodies recovered from the crash site in eastern Ukraine would remain in refrigerated containers at a train station in the town of Torez until the arrival of an international aviation delegation.

However, despite the move to reduce tension between Russia and the international community, Putin has ordered troops to move closer to the border with Ukraine, even supplying extra armaments and new multiple rocket systems to rebels.

This incendiary allegation came as the Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko insisted he had seen new satellite imagery of the site of the strike which downed the Malaysian Boeing 777, giving 'conclusive evidence' of collusion between Moscow and separatists on the attack.

In shocking new disclosures - in defiance of Western demands to Vladimir Putin - he is not only reinforcing his military capability on the border, but supplying yet more lethal weapons to rebels, according to security officials in Kiev.

Even as blame for the MH17 atrocity is linked directly to the separatists and Moscow, Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council yesterday listed the weaponry it claims to have seen crossing from Russia into rebel held regions close to the site of the plane crash.

Poroshenko on Sunday said he had satellite imagery from the site where the BUK missile system was fired to down the Malaysia Airlines flight.

Accusing rebels of hindering the work of the air crash probe, the angry Poroshenko said: 'It won't save them because we have satellite imagery from the site of the rocket launch, photos and footage showing the missile system, all of which proves that weapons were brought in from Russia, as well as intercepted phone calls between terrorists and other conclusive evidence.'

US secretary of state John Kerry echoed Poroshenko's claims that the missile system for the plane strike was supplied by Russia.

'We picked up the imagery of this launch. We know the trajectory,'

He told NBC's Meet the Press. 'We know where it came from. We know the timing.'

In an interview with CNN, he added: 'It's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia in the hands of separatists.

'We know with confidence, with confidence that the Ukrainians did not have such a system anywhere near the vicinity at that point in time. So it obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists.' 

Mr Kerry said the US had intelligence that major supplies of weapons have been transferred from Russia to rebel forces over the past several weeks - including a 150-vehicle convoy of armoured personnel carriers, tanks and rocket launchers. 

Kerry said the United States intercepted conversations about the transfer to separatists of the Russian SA-11 radar-guided SA11 missile system it blames for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Admission of guilt or not? In a recording of an intercept, played to journalists, a Russian (military intelligence officer) called Igor Bezler (left and right) is heard reporting on the downing to his superior in Russian military intelligence, Colonel Vasily Geranin
Admission of guilt or not? In a recording of an intercept, played to journalists, a Russian (military intelligence officer) called Igor Bezler (left and right) is heard reporting on the downing to his superior in Russian military intelligence, Colonel Vasily Geranin

Admission of guilt or not? In a recording of an intercept, played to journalists, a Russian (military intelligence officer) called Igor Bezler (left and right) is heard reporting on the downing of the Boeing 777-200 to his superior in Russian military intelligence, Colonel Vasily Geranin (not pictured here)

British foreign secretary Philip Hammond today issued Russian president Vladimir Putin to hand over the black boxes or face international action.

Mr Hammond said: 'I think this is a decision point for Russia. Russia likes to paint this as a dispute between it and the EU and it and the West. This is about Russia and the entire international community and Russia risks becoming a pariah state if it does not behave properly.'  

Speaking on the Dermot Murnaghan show on Sky News, Mr Hammond said: 'It is not absolutely clear but the evidence points very strongly that it was equipment that has come from Russia.

'However, members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation were today allowed to inspect some of the bodies from flight MH17 which were being held in a refrigerated train carriage nine miles from the crash site. The OSC inspectors, who are not trained air crash investigators.

'There is an absolute obligation on all nations including Russia to use whatever influence they have in securing the evidence so there can be a proper international investigation and access to the site, not least that the bodies can be recovered, properly identified and treated with the dignity they deserve.

'But I'm afraid to say that the evidence to date is that Russia is dragging its heels on both counts.

'We've got air accident investigators in Kiev as has the US, the Dutch and the Malaysians, ready to go in as soon as it is safe and possible for them to do so.

'The area is under the control of the separatists who are a number of groups.

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE ALLEGED REBEL CONVERSATION THAT COULD PROVE DAMNING TO PUTIN AND RUSSIA

A phone call between rebels where they are heard to say ‘holy s***’ when they realized their error was intercepted by Ukraine’s security services, according to a Ukrainian newspaper.

Militants nicknamed ‘Major’ and ‘Greek’ were recorded speaking as ‘Major’ inspected the crash site and found only ‘civilian items’.

Also on the line were Igor Bezler, who authorities says is a Russian military intelligence officer and leading commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, and a colonel in the main intelligence department of the general headquarters of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, Vasili Geranin.

The unverified transcript was posted online by the Kiev Post newspaper:

Igor Bezler: We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo (Donetsk Oblast).

Vasili Geranin: Pilots. Where are the pilots?

IB: Gone to search for and photograph the plane. Its smoking.

VG: How many minutes ago?

IB: About 30 minutes ago.

Allegations: This is a grab from the video provided to the Kiev Post. Pictured are Igor Bezler and Vasili Geranin. While (right) are likenesses of 'Major' and 'Grek'
Allegations: This is a grab from the video provided to the Kiev Post. Pictured are Igor Bezler and Vasili Geranin. While (right) are likenesses of 'Major' and 'Grek'

Allegations: This is a grab from the video provided to the Kiev Post. Pictured are Igor Bezler and Vasili Geranin. While (right) are likenesses of 'Major' and 'Grek'

SBU comment: After examining the site of the plane the terrorists come to the conclusion that they have shot down a civilian plane. The next part of the conversation took place about 40 minutes later.

'Major': These are Chernukhin folks who shot down the plane. From the Chernukhin check point. Those cossacks who are based in Chernukhino.

'Grek': Yes, Major.

'Major': The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first '200'. We have found the first '200' - which is code for a civilian.

'Grek': Well, what do you have there?

'Major': In short, it was 100 percent a passenger (civilian) aircraft.

'Grek': Are many people there?

'Major': Holy sh__t! The debris fell right into the yards (of homes).

'Grek': What kind of aircraft?

Official: A third part of the conversation that involves the 'Major' and 'Greek' seems to bring in Cossack commander Nikolay Kozitsin, who suggests that the Malaysian Airlines plane must have been carrying spies
Official: A third part of the conversation that involves the 'Major' and 'Greek' seems to bring in Cossack commander Nikolay Kozitsin, who suggests that the Malaysian Airlines plane must have been carrying spies

Official: A third part of the conversation that involves the 'Major' and 'Greek' seems to bring in Cossack commander Nikolay Kozitsin, who suggests that the Malaysian Airlines plane must have been carrying spies

'Major': I haven’t ascertained this. I haven’t been to the main sight. I am only surveying the scene where the first bodies fell. There are the remains of internal brackets, seats and bodies.

'Grek': Is there anything left of the weapon?

'Major': Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper.

'Grek': Are there documents?

'Major': Yes, of one Indonesian student. From a university in Thompson.

Militant: Regarding the plane shot down in the area of Snizhne-Torez. It’s a civilian one. Fell down near Grabove. There are lots of corpses of women and children. The Cossacks are out there looking at all this.

They say on TV it’s AN-26 transport plane, but they say it’s written Malaysia Airlines on the plane. What was it doing on Ukraine’s territory?

Nikolay Kozitsin: That means they were carrying spies. They shouldn’t be f…cking flying. There is a war going on.

'They have allowed limited access, but they have not been able to get free access to the site and there is evidence that some of the material that has forensic value has been moved or removed from the site. It is an interference to what it potentially an important crime scene.

'Russia has a clear obligation to use its influence on the separatists to secure the site and allow access to international accident investigators. We are applying all the pressure we can on the Russians. The Russians should know that the eyes of the world are on them. How they behave over this incident will determine how the world views Russia in the coming months and years.

'I think this is a decision point for Russia. Russia likes to paint this as a dispute between it and the EU and it and the West. This is about Russia and the entire international community and Russia risks becoming a pariah state if it does not behave properly.'

Boast: Ukraine separatist Igor Strelkov said on Twitter ¿We warned you ¿ do not fly in ¿our sky¿. And here is the video confirmation of the ¿bird dropping¿

Boast: Ukraine separatist Igor Strelkov said on Twitter ‘We warned you – do not fly in 'our sky'. And here is the video confirmation of the 'bird dropping'

Mr Hammond earlier told Andrew Marr on BBC1: 'The Russians will have probably more information about this incident than anyone. They are very close by, this is only a few miles from the Russian border, they have got lots of military planes in the area, they are saying nothing. 

'There is one party in the world who clearly has the ability to snap his fingers and it would be done, and that's Vladimir Putin and for all the fine words we are hearing from Moscow it hasn't happened.'

Mr Hammond, who has chaired a series of meetings with Whitehall officials including representatives of the intelligence agencies, said the evidence available about those who were behind the atrocity was not yet strong enough to stand up in court but it would 'lead the reasonable person to the unavoidable conclusion that this was a missile fired from rebel-held territory, almost certainly a missile supplied by the Russians'.

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Lots of photos here - photos of three different trailers with three different missile launchers on the back of them. They can't all be the one that shot the aircraft down.

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Another none story, this still isn't clear evidence either way... Just a thought, but think about this if you will.... IF the aircraft was shot down deliberately, then who does this benefit the most?

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All these unproved claims - reminds me of the Weapons of Mass- destruction Saddam was having in Iraq.

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DM your propaganda is becoming very clumsy. You have printed photos of two vehicles with differing markings and tarpaulins. .

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why did they need them as the revels had no planes? gowestyoungman, that's good question! The Ukrainian troops in that area have more than 20 BUKs... this was Done shortly before the crash... And the insurgents no planes. And BUK is the instrument only and exactly for air targets. Whether it looks like preparation for what happened?

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The photographs quite clearly show TWO different trucks with different cargoes.Check out the hazard decals on the rear.They are different.Plus,other photos show a white truck pulling the low loader.

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More lies off the DM the picture of the coverd whatever it is was prob, taken on the M6 knowning the DM and the BBC

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The cover of the missile launcher is different in one of the pictures, is torn... they are not the same transport... :)

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The number plate of the trailer (50) is Moscow Military district. Quite a long way from Ukraine, I'm afraid. I mean, there are BUK's on the border, why engage one from about a thousand miles away? Just speculating. Couldn't get much from the by-road ads. as there are no regional landline prefixes so those six-digit phone numbers can be from pretty much anywhere in Russia's heartland.

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Yes, that's correct, but it's a number plate of Trailer, not BUK. It still can be from anywhere in Russia.

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The number plate of the trailer (50) is Moscow Military district. Quite a long way from Ukraine, I'm afraid. I mean, there are BUK's on the border, why engage one from about a thousand miles away? Just speculating. Couldn't get much from the by-road ads. as there are no regional landline prefixes so those six-digit phone numbers can be from pretty much anywhere in Russia's heartland.

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